Seadragon's Daughter [Mass Market Paperback]

Dragons are mankind's oldest enemies and it is lucky for the human race that few of these powerful beings remain alive. They live much of the time in human form but they have no love for humanity who they look upon as fodder. Peter DelaSangres, his wife Chloe and their two children live on their own private island Caya DelaSangre where they are able to behave as dragons do.

The waters around the island and the Gulf are now heavily patrolled by the Coast Guard because over two dozen people have recently disappeared from fifteen boats. They think a serial killer is stalking the seas. Peter is kidnapped by the female Pelk Lorrel a dragon who lives in the sea. Lorrel poisoned Peter and he has to take an antidote every three days thus trapping him in the home of the Pelks. Lorrel and the other female Pelks are able to seduce Peter through their singing and force him to mate with Lorrel, giving her a child. When the fighting arm of the Pelks get ready to attack Chloe out of fear that she will kill them, Peter escapes but without finding the antidote he has less than a week to live.

The Pelks are reminiscent of sirens, which lured sailors to their doom; as a race they are more amoral then the dragons of the air, what mankind thinks of as the traditional dragon. Both groups have magical powers and it is the most cunning who will win the upcoming war. The romance of Peter and Chloe, although not human in nature, is still beautiful to behold. Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff will love this fantastic island fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

If you have read the first 2 novels in the series (Dragon Delasangre and Dragon Moon) you will have come to love and hate Henri Delasangre. Knowing I would get my hands on a great story, I feared the expected turn-off to the main characters as had happened in the first two novels. It was that, "you hate it so much you have to read it" kind of feeling. But an all new cast is presented in this novel bringing with them a fresh start and a new story; and the possibility for many new and exciting stories to come. Alan F. Troop is a good writer. His novels are filled with excitement and action. It is the quick and easy-reading entertainment that draws me to the Delasangre books, not the love of the characters...which can be somewhat refreshing, I think. Take a break from those heavy tear-jerkers, and the books that leave you speechless and dumbfounded. Give these books a chance, they are very fun!

One cannot help but draw comparisons between Alan F. Troop and Anne Rice (well, early Anne Rice, anyway) because, in a sense, Troop has done for dragons what Rice did for vampires - recreating them in a rich, original, truly fascinating fashion. The Seadragon's Daughter is the third entry in the Dragon Delasangre series, and it greatly adds to the history and mythology that Troop is developing for the creatures who refer to themselves as People of the Blood. Now we discover that there are actually four very different species of dragons in the world, and they don't always play well together.

All Peter Delasangre, a successful Miami businessman in his human changeling form, wants is to spend as much time as possible with his new wife (who was not an easy catch, as anyone who read Dragon Moon will know) and children, enjoy the luxuries and seclusion of his private island estate, stretch his wings in true dragon fashion, and - every now and again - enjoy the succulent pleasures of human flesh. A rare steak is tasty, but nothing beats the taste of live human-kabob. As usual, though, life just isn't that simple for Peter. A string of missing boaters and islanders in the areas has brought a lot of unwanted attention to his island paradise, as rumors on the mainland begin to point a finger of suspicion at the wealthy Delasangre. Peter's innocent - he's always careful about preying on solitary victims far away from his island - but that doesn't keep prying eyes away.

Peter has bigger problems on the horizon, though. A mysterious young female begins appearing on the island; not only will the seemingly innocent Lorrel place quit a strain on the Delasangres' marriage, she threatens to take Peter away from his family forever. He's as surprised as anyone to discover that Lorrel is a member of the Pelks, a sea-dwelling race of dragons thought to be extinct. The race is indeed dwindling, though - and faces extinction if it can't infuse its society with some fresh dragon blood. That's where Peter comes in, as he's poisoned and transported to the sea-dwelling dragons' underworld kingdom (where he will learn some surprising things about the history of his family and of his entire race). Without the antidote to the poison, it looks like he will never see home again. Then Peter learns that his wife and children are in danger - and that changes everything. There will be blood in the water before this drama ends, as no Delasangre gives up without one heck of a fight.

Despite the moral ambiguity (from a human perspective) of the People of the Blood, Peter Delasangre's story is in many ways a very human one. Sure, he takes great delight in eating people, but Peter Delasangre is every bit of a family man who will do anything to defend those he loves - even if it means sacrificing his own life in the process. Alan F. Troop seems to improve with every novel, and the introduction of no less than three new dragon races adds a surprising amount of depth to a series that could have begun drifting toward stagnancy by this point at the hands of a lesser writer - and, just as importantly, it promises truly great things for the future of the Dragon Delasangre series.

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